Internal combustion engines with eight cylinders arranged in a V-type configuration (two banks of four cylinders disposed at a generally ninety degree angle to each other) typically include a dual plane or cross-plane crankshaft. With a cross-plane crankshaft, each crank pin (of four) is positioned at a ninety degree angle from the previous, such that when viewed from one end of the crankshaft, along the longitudinal axis, the the crank pins form a cross shape. With a cross-plane crankshaft, a cylinder of the first band of cylinders shares a crank pin with a cylinder of the second bank of cylinders. The cross-plane crankshaft can achieve very good engine balance as a result of counterweights formed integrally with crankshaft. While the sequential firing of the cylinders is regular overall, the firing of each bank is not. Within the sequential firing order, two cylinders on each bank of cylinders will fire ninety crank angle degrees apart from one another, whereas all other cylinders on a respective bank fire at 180 crank angle degrees intervals.
With a boosted diesel engine, such as a turbo charged or supercharged engine, the second close firing cylinder of each bank tends to induct more intake air than the first close firing cylinder resulting in a greater amount of intake air trapped within the second close firing cylinder. As a result, at high intake air flow rates, the second close firing cylinder of each bank of cylinders will have comparatively higher peak in-cylinder pressures that may limit power output due to engine stress/fatigue constraints. Additionally, the remaining six cylinders, with comparatively low peak in-cylinder pressures, may operate below their power potential.